The senior senator from Florida told a reporter he doesn't know what ZTE is. However, ZTE has been crucial to U.S.-China trade talks over the past week.

By NTK Staff | 05.18.2018 @2:30pm

On Thursday, Business Insider‘s Joe Perticone tweeted that Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) said he doesn’t know what Chinese company ZTE is, despite sitting “on the Finance Committee’s subcommittee on international trade.”

Bill Nelson, who sits on the Finance Committee’s subcommittee on international trade, just told me he doesn’t know what ZTE is…

On Sunday, Trump did a surprising about-face on his typically tough China rhetoric, declaring in a tweet, “President Xi of China, and I, are working together to give massive Chinese phone company, ZTE, a way to get back into business, fast. Too many jobs in China lost. Commerce Department has been instructed to get it done!”

…Lawmakers say ZTE has been a national security threat, not only breaking American sanctions, but allegedly stealing intellectual property on behalf of the Chinese government.

The Senate Leadership Fund (SLF), a GOP-aligned group, pointed out that Nelson signed a letter criticizing President Trump on ZTE. The letter mentioned the company nine times. SLF had a simple statement in response: “Bill Nelson is losing it and needs to retire.”